Soft Law Curriculum

The industry self-regulation, or soft law, curriculum has been designed for graduate programs, specifically for law, business, and public policy schools. The curriculum explores the conditions that allow self-regulation to flourish, identifies where it has and has not worked, and examines new potential use cases.  
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Curriculum Overview

This course offers a comprehensive introduction to industry self-regulation—voluntary, industry-led governance mechanisms that address legal, ethical, and societal challenges. 

It examines:

  • How businesses set standards that influence or become legal norms.
  • The interplay between industry self-regulation practitioners and government regulators.
  • The opportunities and limitations of soft law mechanisms as an alternative or complement to traditional regulation.

 

Why should you consider offering this course at your law school?

  • All materials, including lecture slides, case studies, and assignments are designed to be plug-and-play, saving you time while offering a polished, professional course.
  • Guest lecture opportunities by industry experts and regulators add depth and engagement for students.
  • The course is designed to meet the growing demand for professionals who can work across disciplines to address modern regulatory and societal challenges.
  • The curriculum is modular and adaptable, with content that can be seamlessly integrated into existing courses such as administrative law, corporate governance, regulatory compliance, legal ethics, antitrust law, insurance, and intellectual property.

Learning outcomes include:


  • Understand the strengths and weaknesses of various soft law and self-regulatory approaches, and the factors and contexts in which such programs are most likely to succeed.  

  • Identify various types of soft law programs and which options may be most relevant for your future clients.  

  • Recognize opportunities where soft law programs can help address problems your client faces.  

  • Understand various tools available to make soft law programs more effective and credible.  

  • Anticipate the various ways that soft law and hard law can interact  

  • Comprehend the antitrust, intellectual property, contractual, corporate law and liability implications of soft law programs. 


As this curriculum is used in graduate programs across the country, new resources and materials will be added as they become available. Regarding implementation, please contact us at programs@industryselfregulation.org at any time to request a consultation.  

Curriculum Materials

ASU’s Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law is pilot testing the curriculum Spring 2025. Eleven graduate programs in law, business, and public policy from across the United States will participate in the review and evaluation of the curriculum, adapting it as necessary.

Law School Curriculum Materials

These materials are open source and free of charge to an accredited academic institution. Once the materials have been requested, a member of our team will reach out to deliver the materials and offer instruction support. 
 

Syllabus: LAW 791 – Standards Soft Law, and Industry Self-Regulation Seminar (2 credits) 

  • PowerPoint presentations for each class 

  • Case Studies 

  • Supplemental Reading 

  • Teaching Notes 

 

Business School Materials

These materials are open source and free of charge to an accredited academic institution. Once the materials have been requested, a member of our team will reach out to deliver the materials and offer instruction support. 

Case Studies - Coming Soon: Case studies, with teaching notes as available, can be used to create a class on industry self-regulation or to strengthen and enhance a number of electives including, non-market strategy classes, business ethics, business law classes, regulatory strategy courses, and the like.

Public Policy School Materials


Coming soon! 

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Project Support

This project was made possible through the generous support of the John Templeton Foundation.